Principal makes, plays violins

Educator is a virtuoso who builds musical instruments in his free time.

Educator is a virtuoso who builds musical instruments in his free time.

January 22, 2006|COREY MITCHELL The Saginaw News

SAGINAW, Mich. (AP) -- When Michael Newman isn't running the ship at Heritage High School, he fancies himself a woodworker and virtuoso. Talk of chords, pitch and harmonies rolls off his tongue as easily as chitchat about cabinets, inlays and carving. For much of the past year, the high school principal has combined his two loves, constructing violins from scratch. If he's not plucking on a violin in his sun room, the dutiful luthier (the name for someone who crafts and repairs stringed instruments) is often at work building one in his basement workshop. Newman selects his own wood -- spruce for the sound board and maple for the sides, back and neck -- and uses several texts as guides. He talks up the need for artistic lines and concave shape for "flawless" production and optimal sound quality. Newman even counsels Saginaw Township Community Schools strings director Melissa Everett on occasion, observing Everett at work with her students. "His questions illustrate his knowledge and attention to detail," she said. Newman, who also takes lessons at the Herter Music Center in Saginaw Township, extols the virtues of the violin, praising its "versatility and complexity." "It's an instrument of cultures," he said. "Different cultures make it sing differently." Newman plucks his violin most evenings, to wind down and retune after his cacophonous days at Saginaw County's largest high school. His wife and two children are often party to his playing sessions. "I haven't driven her out of the house," he said of his wife. "I guess that's a gauge of my ability." Newman, who also makes bows and arrows, said a classical guitar is next on his list of woodworking projects. He refuses to set timetables for his work, saying he built his first violin "over the span of months." "When you start keeping track of time, it loses its value," the Cheboygan native said. Newman graduated from the University of New Mexico with a chemistry degree. He said the violin, both the construction and composition, allows his creativity and self-expression to blossom.